Cam Rising injury update: Kyle Whittingham offers new timeline on Utah QB

Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham announced quarterback Cam Rising is out “indefinitely.” Issac Wilson will take over as the starting QB.

Whittingham said Wilson would be the stater “until further notice.” So as of now, Rising is back to the bench with injury and there is no timetable for his return.

There was even a question if Rising would play against Arizona State this past weekend. He ended up playing, but looked like a shell of himself as he threw for just 209 yards and three interceptions in a 27-19 loss.

With the loss, Utah dropped to 4-2 on the season. Wilson did not play Friday night against the Sun Devils.

This season, Rising has 555 yards, seven touchdowns, three interceptions and a 51.5% completion percentage. He did not play last season as he was recovering from injury.

At his peak, Rising was one of the best quarterbacks in the country, playing in 26 games for Utah in 2021 and ’22. During that stretch, he had 5,527 yards, 46 touchdowns, 13 interceptions and a 64.2% completion percentage.

As a member of the Class of 2018, Rising was a four-star recruit out of Newbury Park (Calif.) High, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 38 overall prospect in the state, the No. 18 quarterback in the class and the No. 261 overall prospect in the class.

Cam Rising out ‘indefinitely,’ per Kyle Whittingham

Wilson will step in for Rising again as Utah might need to transition away from its long time quarterback. The Utes are back in action Saturday at home against TCU (3-3).

Whether it was Rising’s turnovers or the defense giving up 27 to Arizona State, Whittingham put the blame on himself following Friday night.

“Very similar conversation to what we had after the Arizona game, got out-rushed, we were awful in the red zone, lost the turnover margin and missed a bunch of tackles,” Whittingham said postgame. “So unfortunately and very disappointingly, it’s the same storyline and as long as we have our holes in the red zone, we may not win another game this season until we get it fixed. That’s just how important it is. It was not due to lack of time spent on it. We tripled the amount of practice time over the last two weeks and again, very disappointing that we didn’t see better results.

“You cannot win football games rarely if ever with a bunch of field goals. You just can’t, it just doesn’t work. We had four field goals and that’s as negative as it is a positive because you can’t win kicking field goals as a general rule. So we’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re a good football team, I firmly believe that. But again, shame on us for having the same storyline two games in a row.”